Jackson Is Investigated Over Money in Campaign

WASHINGTON — Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who has stayed out of public view for much of the past four months while undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder, is being investigated by federal authorities for the possible misuse of campaign money, a federal official confirmed on Monday.

The inquiry by the Washington field office of the F.B.I. began before Mr. Jackson, Democrat of Illinois, went on medical leave in June, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is continuing.

Frank Watkins, a spokesman in Mr. Jackson’s Congressional office, declined to comment on the investigation. A representative for Mr. Jackson’s Chicago campaign — he is seeking re-election to Congress — was not available for comment.

The revelation of a federal investigation, which was first reported by The Chicago Sun-Times, was the latest in a series of troubling developments in recent years for Mr. Jackson, 47, the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The younger Mr. Jackson was once widely seen as a future mayor of Chicago or a United States senator. But in late 2008, he was among those mentioned in connection with the case of Rod R. Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who was convicted of trying to sell or trade an appointment to the Senate seat that Barack Obama vacated when he became president.

Mr. Jackson was not charged in the Blagojevich case, but his efforts to become the new senator have been part of a continuing House ethics investigation into claims that a longtime supporter and friend of Mr. Jackson offered sizable contributions to Mr. Blagojevich to appoint him to the seat.

Mr. Jackson has denied wrongdoing in that case, which is separate from the campaign finance investigation.

“It should matter,” Brian Woodworth, Mr. Jackson’s Republican opponent in the November election, said of the newly revealed federal investigation. “One cannot assume guilt of course, but the flip side is how perception affects the district and the state. There is a cloud that surrounds this man.”

But political experts in Chicago said the new investigation seemed unlikely to affect Mr. Jackson’s chances of winning re-election, given his name recognition, the cast of relatively unknown opponents and the deep Democratic leanings of the district. Mr. Jackson, who first won election in the district in 1995, has been absent from the campaign trail and from Congress. His aides have said he was recuperating at his home in Washington after being treated at the Mayo Clinic for bipolar II depression.

A version of this article appears in print on October 16, 2012, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Congressman Investigated Over Money In Campaign. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe